36 TUE p:NTOMUi.O(;iST's KK(JUKi>. 



"LE£D iJ^ r^OI' IjitO I'EJVIP'l'yil'lOri." 



(part II). 

 By a country COUSIN. 



Having recovered from the shock vvliich my first appearance in a 

 sale-room ])roduced, I feU- 1 should like to see the rest of the sj^ecimens 

 in the late Kev. H. Barney's collection and witness their sale. I started 

 for the place early, so that I might have time for a good look at the 

 insects, and here I am. 



The first thing that strikes me is that there are nothing like so 

 many people patronising this part of the sale as were jjresent when the 

 Macro-lepido})tera Avere sold. I at once set to work to inspect the 

 specimens, but find that if anything their origin is more difficult to 

 trace than was the case with the jn-evious lot. Crainhux alpiuellus and 

 C iiiyellus, without data, keej^ company with a single C. verellus, 

 similarly situated. The latter is so very rare in Britain that this 

 specimen is useless Avithout a clue to its origin. A long series of C. 

 coiitaiiiliu'lhts are all salinellus : there isn't one of the real Simon Pure 

 among them ; then come ten C. rorelln», without any indi(;ation as to 

 who captured these s})ecimens of a species which, though very abundant 

 on the ('(jntinent, is exceedingly rare in this country. Then comes 

 rhi/cts ohdiirtelht, only six, witliout a hint of their origin and probably 

 from till' moon, as 1 think only about three British sjjccimens have 

 been properly recorded ; whilst one Eronienc occlJea may have come 

 from the Equator or the Pole. Here are twenty-one Anerastia farreUn, 

 including two of the original type sijecimeus from New Yarmouth 

 described by Curtis. But which are these types ? "Without labels, 

 there is no clue to guide anyone as to which is which ; the twenty-one 

 specimens here have been moved and mixed, and Curtis's types are 

 now a douljtful (piantity to be guessed at, imless indeed some wiseacre 

 will come forward and swear which specimens Mr. Burney pointed out 

 to him as he glanced through the collection some years ago. This may 

 be science, but I fail to see it. Nothing wonderful appears until the 

 ToKTRicES are reached. Here are some very fine bred T. piceana and four 

 T. qnoviiuw, with an excellent series of T. scmialhana, and then wc 

 reach a marvellous series of Peronea cristana and P. Itastiana ; some of 

 tlic special vars. are really grand specimens. Then some fine P. 

 ninbrana and P. maccana appear ; these, of course, although without 

 labels, are British and no question arises in the mind as in the case of 

 the Ckajibi — obductella, rorelhia, etc. Ah 1 here is Penthina greviUana, 

 hardly a distinct sjjecies I should think ; whilst these are followed by 

 long series of what are generally considered rare species. Then in the 

 middle of the Toktkioes the true character of this collection comes out. 

 C'rammed higgeldy-piggcldy into store boxes, pushed in here, tliere and 

 everywhere, mixed up in almost inextricable confusion, utterly useless 

 fur scientific purposes, are the remainder of the Toktkices and the 

 whole of the Tixeina, half of which must have been utterly unknown 

 to the owner as to whether they were in his possession or not. 



Here is a lovely series of St/(jmonota frauniana, there some fine Sti]/- 

 iiionota interru'pfd'iKt, yonder some Eupacilla rnanniana and E. diujreijana. 

 No wonder the catalogue-maker had given up liis work in disgust and 

 '•roiiped together whole boxes full of good insects as single lots, some 



